Improvement in keyed musical instruments



UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

HUBERT O. BAUDET, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

IMPROVEMENT IN KEYED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 58,959, dated October 1G, 1865.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, HUBERT CYRILLE BAU DET, of Paris, in the Empire of France, have invented a new or Improved Keyed Musical Instrument; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ofthe same, reference being had to the annexed sheet of' drawings, making a part of the saine.

In musical instruments played with bows or sticks the strings are touched transverselythat is, perpendicular-ly to or at right angles, or nearly so, to the springs. Now, in order to mechanically obtain this result, it would at first be thought necessary to make the instruments very large, and require much power to play them. According, however, to my invention, the instruments may be made of any desired size, the notes produced heilig always regulated by the weight and length of the strings, notice being taken of other considerations which I shall explain, for in this new application the strings t'or the bass are cornposed of steel wire, as for pianos, on which lead is placed in order to increase the weight of the strings. I sometimes employ gut or other material instead of lead; but to obtain a suitable sound for the string l place cotton on the lead.

The strings are provided with what I term 1ocks,7 set perpendicularly to the said strings, and there is a lock for each string or group of strings. These locks are made of hair, silk, metallic thread, or other suitable material. Each of them, when the note to which it corresponds is required to speak, is taken between a cylinder and a roller, and the end opposite the strings must not press the part where the roller touches the cylinder.

In the four upper oetaves there are one, two, and three strings to each note; but there is only a lock for each group, in order to better maintainthe harmony. In the bass the lock is composed of, say, seventy hairs, and in the treble of, say, six hairs.

The friction-cylinder, as well as the rollers, may be made of any material considered sutiiciently strong, and is or are tted with felt, leather, skin, or other substances capable of receiving colophony. The cylinder or the roller may be made 'ot' wood or other material without lining.

The accompanying drawings illustrate how the invention may be carried into effect.

Figure 1 is a side view ot' a string, its playingkey, and the devices through which the playing upon the string is produced by the key. Figs. 2 and 3 represent the front and side views of the mechanismv for operating the friction-cylinder.

In Fig. l the string a is provided with a lock, a', placed below the long cylinder b. The two cylinders I) and c have a continuous rotary motion imparted to them by means ot' one or two pedals worked bythe feet ot' the performer or otherwise.

There is a roller, d, in front of each string or grou'p of strings, and it receives a vertical motion from friction when the key f is pressed. The roller tl then touches the long cylinder c, and compresses the lock a between it and the cylinder b, and as this roller d is revolved by the rotary motion of the long cylinder c, it follows that the lock a is attracted by the motion of the cylinder b and roller rl, and which excites the string a, and vibrations are produced, whereby the desired notes are sounded as it' a violin-bow made the strings vibrate.

Au instrument containing the same number of notes as a piano being constructed as described, it will be seen that music muy be produced almost in a similar manner to that on a piano. Nevertheless I can arrange hook r underneath certain of the keys, Fig. 1, so as to be hooked onto projections s when the keys are lowered for the purpose of sounding the notes to which these keys correspond, the two being at the saine time left free for playing. They can be unhooked by pressing a reserve d piece either with the hands or the knees.

In order to communicate the continuons rotary motion to the cylinders b and c, I employ the arrangement shown iu side view at Fi g. 2 and in front view at Fig. 8.

The pedal g is' jointed at g', and the other end carries the stringh, passing round the loose pulley t'. The other end ot' this string is hooked to the end of a helical spring, j, attached to axed pa'rt of the instrument. On the axis of the pulley i there is another pulley, i',keyed on the shaft, and in the throat of which an endless string or wire, k, passes, which also passes round the pulley m, the axis oi' which a il! carries a second pulley, which imparts a rotary motion through the endless cord n to the cylinders b and C, and the former transmits it at the desired time to the rollers (l.

There is a ily-wheel, o, mounted on the shaft of' the pulleys `E and q', as well as a lever, p, carrying a spring-catch or l'riction-pawl taking into the throat of the part i', and forming' part thereof, in such manner that as the pulleys move so does the lever p, and consequently the shaft on which it is keyed; but when the pedal ascends the helical spring,` j recalls the springh and causes the pulleys 'i and yi to rotate in the contrary direction, although the llywheel continues to canse the shaft to rotate in the same directionan action which is obtained by the contraction ot' the spring' of the catch of the lever p; and when the pedal g descends its action causes the rotation ot' the fly-wheel o ot the shaft always in the same direction.

rlhere may be substituted for the roller d a vertical rod attached to the key. The end ot' the 'said rod toward the cylinder b is faced with india-rubber or other substance which will hold eolophony, so that it keeps the lock in contact with the cylinder b, in order that the latter may excite and sound the string` with which the key corresponds. This rod I regard as the equivalent ot' the roller d.

' And having now described the nature of my said invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not limit myself to the precise arrangement hereinbet'ore described, as the mechanism for transmitting the motion and the general construction ot' the instrument may be considerably varied without departing from the essential features of my invention; but

that I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The locks a', attached to and in combination with the 'strings of a musical instrument, substantially as and for the purpose herein spccited.

2. The friction-rollers d, in combination with the locks nf', substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.

3. The combination, with the rollers d, or their equivalents, strings a, and locks a', of one or more drivinglcylinders, b c, and a system of keys, j', the whole operating substantially as herein speeied.

In testimony whereof' I have hereunto set my name in presence of two subscribingI wit uesses.

BAL' l HET.

Witnesses z ERNEST Miurun, A. LE BLANn. 

